North Huntingdon man survives 'battle' with covid-19, cheered by Excela hospital staff

With a wave, a few tears and a honk of the horn, Mark Nicholas was finally heading home.

Wednesday marked the first time in seven weeks that the North Huntingdon man and his wife, Karyl Nicholas, were able to touch each other. Mark, 62, tested positive for the coronavirus in March and has been hospitalized since.

“We got to wave through the window, that was it,” Karyl said.

They were sent off with fanfare — dozens of nurses and staff members gathered outside Excela Health Latrobe Hospital on a sunny spring day to cheer the couple on. Their clapping was punctuated by blue and green pom poms and signs. Karyl pushed her husband out of the hospital in a wheelchair while he wiped away tears and thanked his well-wishers.

Karyl has raised more than $11,000 for Excela Health’s pandemic response fund. She said she felt helpless while being unable to do anything to help with her husband’s care.

The special sendoff was the least they could do to thank her, said Maryann Singley, vice president of patient care services.

“The staff have worked so hard, and we’ve gotten some great community support,” she said.

Mark had a slight cough March 16. A few days later, he became extremely fatigued and had body aches, his wife said. He tested positive March 20, one of the first in Westmoreland County. Eight days later, he was admitted to Excela Health Westmoreland Hospital with pneumonia.

“I walked through the doors and I do not remember anything after that,” he said Wednesday. “I don’t know if they put me in a wheelchair, I don’t know if they put me in a room. For the next three weeks, four weeks, I have no recollection of anything that happened.”

Mark spent 20 days hospitalized on a ventilator before the tube was removed April 19. He has been recovering and doing physical therapy at the Latrobe hospital. He did not have any underlying health conditions.

There was a time when doctors didn’t think he was going to make it. He praised those who helped him beat the virus.

“It has been a battle,” he said.